To Fan the Flame
by corrosive'smeerkat
Summary: Some Fang Gang musings over the whole A/C debacle.


Title: To Fan the Flame  
Author: corrosive's_meerkat  
Summary: Some Fang Gang musings over the whole A/C debacle.  
Disclaimer: If I owned them, then why would I be doing this for free?  
Distribution: Let me know where, please. Other than that, spread the joy/turmoil/crap that I know as mine!  
  
Gunn surveyed the situation, glancing stealthily around the vaulted-ceiling room. Empty. It was amazing how a room so vast and bleak could feel secure. Lived in. He snorted to himself at the thought as his eyes grazed the surface of the vampire-sized hole from weeks before that had been covered up with plywood. Yeah. The Hyperion sure was one to boast of security.   
  
A grin tugged slightly at the edge of his mouth, muscles automatically pulling upward as he heard Fred's light voice coming from the office. From the monosyllabic nonsense she was murmuring, he could tell she was talking to Connor.  
  
Connor. That kid had a pair of lungs on him. And to think that his father didn't even use his lungs. The irony. It was remarkable to think that this kid was something so amazing, yet his poop still stunk. Gunn winced as he reflected on exactly how he knew that was a fact. A distant voice rang through his head from ages past. The Christmas story. He'd went to church as a kid until he was about eight. He'd always remember his Sunday School teacher's version of the Christmas story. Jesus was so special yet his poop stank too.   
  
Gunn covertly glided over the ceramic tiles toward Wesley's office. Fred squealed within its confines. Gunn kept his distance, stopping just before reaching the point where he'd be within view. As far as he could tell, Fred was walking around with the kid. He was going to be spoiled as hell--that was for sure. Gunn had learned long ago that you just had to let babies be by themselves and hold their own sometimes.   
  
Of course, he wasn't going to stop allowing Fred to spoil Connor rotten and tote him around. The only time anybody got to hold the baby was when Cordy or Angel was absent. He raised his eyebrow. Where was the dynamic duo anyway? The Batman theme reverberated throughout Gunn's psyche. Angel in tights, acting like Adam West-  
  
Gunn flinched once more, popping his neck. Bad, bad, imagery. Stupid brain. His focus went back to the room. Wesley was at his desk, reclining slightly in his chair, and attempting to read a book. English and his books. The sad thing was that all Wes had to do was ask Gunn what people to go to and he could hook up with all the demon-knowing peeps around L.A. But no-Brits always had to do things the hard way.  
  
As Gunn tuned his hearing with the feminine whispers, he began to understand what the wispy brunette was rambling. As long as you didn't have to listen to it for long, Fred's rambling was cute. Fred was-  
He decided not to go there.  
~  
"Yes, uh huh! Your daddy and mommy just have to spend some time to get out all of that kye-rumptual tension! Yes they do!"  
~  
Gunn's brow furrowed at the foreign word. Through process of elimination, a laugh formed in his head. Sexual tension? Smiling, he leaned against the wall, letting the wall support his body. It was funny because it was true.  
~  
Wesley sighed, his eyes glancing briefly from The Pollalline Chronicles to the girl holding the child before him. He shook his head, suppressing a laugh. His eyes went back to the ink-covered pages. "Fred, you better watch what you say. If Angel hears you saying things like that to the baby, you might get your permission to care for him revoked."  
  
Fred pursed her lips in pure determination. "Well, it's not like we should have to lie to him, Wesley. He should know the truth and what's going on."  
  
"What's going on. That's feasible considering there's nothing going on," Wesley informed the dreamer, knowing that he was actually trying to convince himself.  
  
The physicist's shoulders slumped slightly at his words. Her shallow defensive skills tingled with anticipation of a possible debate.   
  
"Wesley, I hate to sound like I know everything and all but you know as well as I do that nobody just goes down to a room just to 'train,' especially with everything that brews between the two of them."  
  
Wes forced his eyes to remain on the pages in front of him, although he was now staring through them and seeing letters crammed together in a sporadic order. Of course he knew she was right. Did that mean that he should confess it aloud and state it as the fact that it was? He'd seen Angel and Cordy's "training" only one time before. That had been before Darla's arrival. Besides having felt like a voyeur, he had been embarrassed that he'd even witnessed the whole ordeal. They knew how to take "friendly touching" to a new level.   
  
"And besides," Fred added, her voice already shifting to baby-talk octaves. "Mommy and Daddy haven't been able to have their little sessions since you came into the picture! No they haven't! They were just all wrapped up in your little adorable eyes, yes they were!"  
  
"Good lord," Wesley mused at the thought with a soft laugh. "I thought Cordy would never stop grumbling about how he'd dropped their training. How long did it take her? Three weeks to talk him into resumimg training?"  
~  
Gunn stood outside the room, ashamed that at Wesley's words he was now picturing Cordelia as a sex-deprived feline who was begging the alpha male for his, uh, attentions.  
~  
"Actually about four. He agreed when she told him that she'd get Charles to teach her. I think he saw it as a threat. I think that was her intention," Fred whispered the last part to herself, a smile playing on her lips.  
  
Wesley decided not to make the casual comment that Fred was thinking too much. Thankfully, Fred was the only one thinking these thoughts. That's all he'd need would be for Cordelia or Angel to see how things were between them.  
~  
Just beyond the office, Gunn didn't know whether to feel complimented or burned. He was used as a threat? So Cordy didn't think he was good enough-oh wait. He was a candidate for alpha male. So that's why he was considered a threat. Gunn beamed at the thought, shaking his head and smiling smugly to himself.  
~  
Fred let out a sigh, tiredly placing herself in a chair. "It's proven that Boyle didn't believe that pressure and volume were inversely related at first glance," she guaranteed herself and the little man she held to her chest, making sure he understood her allusion with the rise of a reassuring eyebrow and a small wink.  
*  
"Angel!" Cordelia scowled, her right hand delicately-yet firmly-placed on her hip. Her left foot tapped impatiently. That was the third time he'd zoned out since they'd come downstairs!  
  
Angel's focus dropped as his eyes went from the blank concrete wall to the figure before him. She looked annoyed. Thus, she was annoyed.   
  
"What?!" He asked, just as irritated that she'd broken his attention.   
  
Angel stepped away from the wall, emphasizing that he had been doing nothing. Gunn wasn't a threat. That was a laugh! He hadn't agreed to train Cordy because he was afraid of Gunn shadowing Cordy's every move. Guiding her movements. Whispering instructions in her ear as the beat of her heart gently echoed through his head-  
  
"Hello? Does it matter anything to you that you've zoned out thrice and I'm once more the Seer without any moves!"  
  
Rather, a Seer with moves....  
  
"Sorry!" He exclaimed defensively, placing his hands up in mock surrender.  
  
"I swear, Angel, the kid's going to grow up and you aren't going to be able to listen to every movement he makes. Get that through your thick skulking skull, all right? He's in good hands." She paused, letting her comments sink in. "Can we just have five minutes of focus here?!"  
  
Connor? What about Connor? Oh. She thought he was listening to Connor. Hey, what was the little guy up to, anyway? Angel leaned toward the air duct once more to listen.   
  
"Ugh!"   
Seeing Cordelia's fleeting form quickly move up the stairs, Angel swallowed. Crap.   
  
"Cordelia! Wait!"  
  
She ignored his calls, purposefully stomping up the stairs. "I don't want to hear it!" She silenced him, placing a hand in front of her, which signaled him to "stop."  
  
"C'mon! Listen, I'm sorry, all right? I didn't mean to! Please Cordelia, just-stopwalkingsofast!" His jaw tightened as he kept in pursuit.  
  
"Pfft!"   
  
Cordelia slammed the door behind her, keeping her chin held high as she turned the corner and entered the lobby. Across the room, she saw Gunn standing with his back against the wall, close to Wesley's open office. He had a smirk on his face and he looked like a proud, lazy tiger. If she was upset, then by golly, he wasn't going to smirk.  
  
"What Gunn? Are you in timeout or something? Stop pretending to hold the wall up! Obviously, they're structurally sound!" She hissed loudly, glancing over to the east wall, in which there was a certain gaping hole that had been covered with plywood and plastic. "Well, unless you're a certain 'ooh, I can't use doors' vampire, who likes to make holes in the walls!"  
  
Gunn's eyes widened. His cover had been...uncovered. He left the solace of the wall, moving so that his actions wouldn't incriminate himself. Eavesdropping? What eavesdropping? He'd just been walking around...heading toward the weapons cabinet. Yeah...  
  
Fred's head peaked out the office, her eyes not knowing whether to rest on bewildered Charles, determined Cordelia, or pensive Angel, who wasn't far behind the brunette. Charles had been listening to their conversation? Hmm.  
  
Cordelia gestured flamboyantly to the thin girl who held the child in front of her, directing her comments to the vampire behind her. "See! Perfectly fine!" She turned back to Fred, deciding that Fred would be the victim of her rant. "My god, every freaking five seconds he was listening to what was going on up here! It was as if he had to know every time that child took a breath!"  
  
Fred's mouth parted slightly. Angel had been listening? She smiled feebly at the vampire, part of her embarrassed while the other proud. She glanced down. Maybe it was good. Maybe it would make realization hit.   
  
Angel saw the mixed look cross Fred's features. He swallowed, having been caught. Oops. There goes the stealthy approach. "What?! It's flu season and he sounded like his nose was all-all-"  
"Why do I bother?" Cordy questioned rhetorically, rolling her eyes and taking the opportunity to stare at the floor so she wouldn't have to make eye contact with anybody.   
  
As if the forces around her were controlling her eyes, the two orbs settled on the child whom Fred was now bouncing up and down. Holy-why had she yelled? Why had she gotten so mad that she'd yelled in front of the baby? Now he was upset. Fred had probably had him asleep, too. She could be so stupid! How was she ever going to be a mothe-whoa. Where did that come from? Light, shivery tingles played on her spine at the thought. Okay. Spaz much? She needed to get her thoughts on something else now-  
  
"Oh Connor, it's okay. What do you need, baby?" Cordelia's voice automatically changed pitch and played lightly on the air as she moved closer to the child.   
  
Angel's muscles slowly began to recoil in comfort as he witnessed Fred transferring Connor to Cordy's arms. It pained him to not rush to his child, to not comfort him and slowly rock the baby into oblivion. In another way, however, a contented weight settled in the pit of his stomach when he saw the two together. He watched as Cordelia began to walk back to the kitchen, swaying gently as she murmured to the child.  
  
Gunn watched the interlude, glad that his situation was being ignored. So Angel had been listening to what Fred had to say? Heh. Vamp's got guts ignoring Cordy to retreat into eavesdropping. He eyed Cordy as she slowly exited majestically. He had been wrong. She was the only alpha around this stinkin' place. At least her caring for Connor would soothe her anger-well, or backorder it. He glanced to the vampire, the mood in the room not as tense as it had been before. No emotion. No reaction. The brooding one simply stared into the girl's path.  
  
Wesley's jaw loosened, and he was able to breathe once more as Cordelia took the baby and began walking out of his view. That could have ended in a big confrontation. If it hadn't been for Connor, who knows who could have said what in their little fits of anger. Of course, it was usually safe in situations when Angel and Cordy were with others. He knew that they didn't have their personal talks in public. That-whatever had just happened in there-could have led to a public confrontation. And yet ironically enough, Connor had pacified the situation.   
  
Wesley's intent gaze zoomed in on Angel. His shoulders slumped slightly at what he saw. He'd begun to notice how Angel reacted when Cordelia played Mommy. So maybe Connor wouldn't pacify the ordeal after all. Angel was seeing Cordy in an even higher light, now with her new implicit role as Connor's mom. Was everything against him? It was just the ex-watcher's luck that the tyke could only fan the flame to the inevitable pairing that they knew as Angel and Cordelia. 


End file.
